He’s certainly been the focus of many headlines this week – for all the wrong reasons – and now, vlogger Logan Paul has made an announcement.
In case you’ve somehow managed to miss it, and I’ll be honest, I don’t know how you could have – but Logan and his crew travelled to Japan, filming themselves venturing through a forest at the base of Japan’s Mount Fuji, a place which is otherwise known as ‘Suicide Forest’.
During the 15 minute video, the crew came across the body of a man hanging from a tree after the deceased, who remains unidentified, appeared to have killed himself.
After the tragic discovery – which the crew were obviously going out of their way to find – Logan turns the camera on the body and zooms in as the police are being called.
The video, which wasn’t monetised, was intended to ‘raise awareness for suicide’, he’s since claimed.
As you could probably imagine, Logan has received a huge amount of backlash for his insensitive portrayal of the tragic aftermath of suicide, which has reached the point of epidemic in Japan.
As well as a lot of backlash, including comments from well-known actors, a Change.org page has been set petitioning for YouTube to delete Logan’s account – at the time of writing, it’s received more than 115,000 signatures so far.
Which means it’ll probably come as no surprise he has now announced he’s taking a break from making videos as he’s ‘taking time to reflect’.
Yeah, probably for the best.
Of course, judging by the comments, his fans were showing support of their ‘idol’, with some saying how ‘devastated’ they were at the break.
Jynx Zebra wrote:
Logan you take as much time as you need seriously. You’re an inspiration not just to me but 15 million other people.
However, others were fuming at the idea people were sticking up for him.
One person wrote:
All of you defending this dude are such a joke. He’s an adult with a popular YouTube channel.
He should know uploading a video regarding a sensitive topic and THE BODY ITSELF was going to cause a huge backlash.
It’s the internet, he should’ve been smarter than that.
Logan’s main social platform, YouTube, has also issued a statement regarding the video, it reads:
Our hearts go out to the family of the person featured in the video.
YouTube prohibits violent or gory content posted in a shocking, sensational or disrespectful manner. If a video is graphic, it can only remain on the site when supported by appropriate educational or documentary information and in some cases it will be age-gated.
We partner with safety groups such as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline to provide educational resources that are incorporated in our YouTube Safety Center.
Logan earlier issued a written apology on his Twitter account shortly after the backlash.
It read:
Dear Internet, where do I begin. Let’s start with this – I’m sorry. This is a first for me. I’ve never faced criticism like this before, because I’ve never made a mistake like this before. I’m surrounded by good people and believe I make good decisions, but I’m still a human being. I can be wrong.
I didn’t do it for views. I get views. I did it because I thought I could make a positive ripple on the internet, not cause a monsoon of negativity. That’s never the intention.
I intended to raise awareness for suicide and suicide prevention and while I thought ‘if this video saves just one life it’ll be worth it’, I was misguided by shock and awe, as portrayed in the video.
I do this sh*t everyday. I’ve made a 15 minute TV show EVERY SINGLE DAY for the past 460+ days. One may understand that it’s easy to get caught up in the moment without assessing the possible ramifications.
I’m often reminded of how big of a reach I truly have & with great power comes great responsibility… for the first time in my life
I’m regretful to say I handled that power incorrectly. It won’t happen again.
Please remember: If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, please don’t suffer alone. Call Samaritans for free on their anonymous 24-hour phoneline on 116 132.
